Has beer bloated your belly? Has liquor lacerated your liver? Perhaps it’s time to take a break from the hard stuff and revisit the joys of wine.
Ahhh, wine. I love all shades of wine, even that nasty pink stuff Americans scrape off the top and bottle as White Zin. Wine buzzes are truly something to behold. Not sloppy, not crazy, but perhaps a little warm and fuzzy and giggly. I tend to stay on the cheap end of the wine spectrum, never spending more than $12 at a wine shop. So I’m certain I have a lot to learn in this department. All I know is I like drinking the stuff, and there’s a quaint spot just across the river where I can go and learn like the eager student I am. Knowledge is power.
Huber Winery in Starlight, Ind., just about a 25-minute drive from Louisville, offers seasonal wine tastings at extremely reasonable prices — and after you’re finished, you can purchase a bottle or two of your favorites and drink it right there … while you listen to music on the gift shop’s patio or people-watch pumpkin-pickers and fellow bottle-imbibers. I visited Huber’s a few weeks ago at the height of Halloween season. It was crowded, but my friends and I had no problem getting a spot at the Loft Tasting Bar. For a mere $8, you can choose eight wines off a list of about 16 … and you get to keep the glass! The wines are listed from dry (like the delicious 2005 Chambourcin) to sweet (the fall specialty Spiced Apple). And on the back of the list, for just $4 more (and, trust me, when you’re finished with the front, forking over $4 seems like nothing — hiccup), you can choose five more samples from a list of 14, including the exotic Autumn Frost and the spicy Catawba Rosé.
I left that afternoon with six bottles in hand. So basically I’m done Christmas shopping … if they can last that long at my house. One more thing to remember: Bring along a DD — the road to Huber’s is curvy. For directions, go to www.huberwinery.com.
E-mail me at shavens@leoweekly.com or post a drink on my blog at www.leoweekly.com
This article appears in November 6, 2007.